Mobile instant messaging conferencing method and system

ABSTRACT

A server-based architecture for instant messaging conferencing is presented. Session-based instant messaging conferencing is established by transmitting necessary server network address information through page-mode based messaging services to establish connections among the various mobile devices with the server.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/817,994, filed Apr. 4, 2004, a continuation-in-part of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/935,342, filed Sep. 7, 2004, andcontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/042,620,filed Jan. 24, 2005, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to messaging and other datatransfer techniques for mobile devices, and more specifically, aserver-based architecture to establish an instant messaging conferencingsession or other data exchange session among multiple mobile devicesacross private networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

According to a recent IDC Research report, the U.S. mobile instantmessaging (“IM”) market was predicted to reach $365 million in 2004 andis expected to reach $1.2 billion by 2008. However, the current paradigmfor IM, adoption of which has been so successful in the desktop PCenvironment and which cell phone manufacturers have only just begun tooffer access to in mobile devices as of the filing date of this patentapplication, is not easy to use in the mobile environment. Inparticular, the current IM paradigm is encumbered by the constraint thatone can only communicate with those who are currently (i) online, (ii)logged on to same IM service such as AOL's Instant Messenger (AIM),Yahoo! Messenger or MSN Messenger, and (iii) included as a “buddy” onone's “buddy list.”

patent application Ser. No. 10/817,994, entitled “Peer-to-Peer InstantMessaging Method and Device” (hereinafter, the P2P Patent Application)provides techniques for a new paradigm for mobile IM that eliminatesthese limitations and operates in a manner that all are familiarwith—the cell phone. For example, in one embodiment of the P2P PatentApplication, by opening a TCP/IP port on one's smart phone and sendingthe TCP/IP address and port (whether permanent or temporary) to arecipient's phone number through the Short Message Service (SMS), one isable to develop an IM system wherein (i) the initiator dials the cellphone number of the recipient (i.e., sending the SMS message containingthe TCP/IP address and port), (ii) the recipient's cell phone rings(i.e., the recipient receives the SMS message), and (iii) if therecipient chooses, he is able answer the call and engage in a real-timetext conversation, just like a typical voice call (i.e., the recipient'ssmart phone extracts the TCP/IP address and port from the SMS messageand establishes a direct TCP/IP connection with the initiator). This newyet familiar paradigm essentially turns the restrictive “buddy list” ofthe current IM paradigm into the entire cellular network.

However, peer-to-peer techniques such as those described in the P2PPatent Application also have their limitations. Specifically, with purepeer-to-peer IM techniques, it is more difficult to implement acommercially viable IM system that efficiently incorporates thecapability to communicate in a real-time messaging session with morethan two devices (i.e., adding conferencing capabilities to an IMsystem). Additionally, to the extent service providers dynamicallyallocate private IP addresses (rather than allocate public Internet IPaddresses) to mobile devices through Network Address Translation (NAT)or any other network address allocation techniques, peer-to-peer IMtechniques such as those described in the P2P Patent Application willonly work within the private network of the service provider since theprivate IP addresses allocated to a mobile device will not be properlyresolved by a receiving mobile device residing on a separate privatenetwork with a separate service provider. As such, what is needed is aserver-based IM architecture based upon the core teachings of the P2PPatent Application to address the conferencing and private networklimitations discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for establishing a real-timesession-based IM system or data exchange system between mobile devicesover a digital mobile network system that supports data packet-basedcommunications. Under the present invention, an initiating mobile deviceestablishes a data packet-based reliable connection (e.g., TCPconnection) with a server that has been allocated a publicly accessiblenetwork address (e.g., a public Internet IP address) that is alreadyknown by the initiating mobile device. The initiating mobile devicerequests session identifying information from the server to be used inestablishing the IM session. Such session identifying information would,for example and without limitation, be a new listening port number(e.g., TCP port number for a server socket) opened by the server or asession identification number. The initiating mobile device then sendsto a target mobile device an invitation message containing the server'snetwork address and the session identifying information (which could bea new listening port number or a session identification number), througha page-mode messaging service (e.g., SMS) that utilizes a uniqueidentification number that is associated with the target mobile deviceand already known by the initiating mobile device (e.g., telephonenumber, PIN number, etc.). If the target mobile device desires to engagein a real-time IM session with the initiating mobile device, the targetmobile device will establish a reliable connection (e.g., TCPconnection) with the server through the network address and sessionidentifying information received by the target mobile device from theinitiating mobile device through the page-mode messaging service. Theserver serves as an intermediary between the initiating mobile deviceand the target mobile device transferring real-time messages through thereliable session-based connections established with the server by bothdevices. Thereafter, both the initiating mobile device and the targetmobile device can invite additional mobile devices to the real-time IMsession by sending such server's network address and the sessionidentifying information to the additional mobile devices through thepage-mode messaging service (e.g., SMS).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a diagram of an environment for establishing an instantmessaging conferencing system or data exchange system in accordance withthe present invention between a first mobile device and a second mobiledevice in a GSM mobile network system supporting GPRS as a datapacket-based communications service, SMS as a page-mode messagingservice, and TCP/IP as an underlying data packet based network protocol.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart for a first embodiment of a server basedarchitecture in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart for a second embodiment of a server-basedarchitecture in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a flow chart for a third embodiment of a server-basedarchitecture with virtual IM conference room capabilities in accordancewith the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A. Network Environment

FIG. 1 depicts one environment to deploy an embodiment of the presentinvention. As depicted, the underlying digital mobile network system inthis environment is the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM)100 standard. Under the GSM standard, each of the mobile devices 105 and110 includes a Subscriber Information Module (SIM) card that containsunique identification information that enables the GSM system to locatethe mobile devices within the network and route data to them. A currentcommercial example of a mobile device (e.g., smartphone, PDA, handheld,etc.) that might be used in FIG. 1 could be Research In Motion's (RIM)BlackBerry handheld devices, which include a QWERTY keyboard tofacilitate the typing of text. As depicted, a GSM architecture includesthe following components: base transceiver stations (BTS) 115 and basestation controllers (BSC) (120A or 120B) for managing the transmissionof radio signals between the MSC (defined below) and the mobile devices,mobile service-switching centers (MSC) (125A and 125B) for performingthe all switching functions and controlling calls to and from othertelephone and data systems, a home location register (HLR) 130 forcontaining all the administrative, routing and location information ofeach subscriber registered in the network, visitor location registers(VLR) (135A and 135B) for containing selected administrative informationabout subscribers registered in one HLR who are roaming in another HLR,and an equipment identity register (EIR) (not shown) for containing alist of all valid mobile equipment on the network). As depicted in FIG.1, in one architecture of a GSM network, there may be exist one HLRwhile there may exist multiple MSCs (each with a related VLR) which eachserves a different geographic area. The MSCs also provide the interfacefor the GSM network to more traditional voice networks 170 such as thePSTN. This underlying GSM architecture provides radio resourcesmanagement (e.g., access, paging and handover procedures, etc.),mobility management (e.g., location updating, authentication andsecurity, etc.), and communication management (e.g., call routing, etc.)in order to enable mobile devices in the GSM network to send and receivedata through a variety of services, including the Short Message Service(SMS), an asynchronous bi-directional text messaging service for shortalphanumeric messages (up to 160 bytes) that are transported from onemobile device to another mobile device in a store-and-forward fashion.

A GSM network within which the present invention may be deployed wouldalso support a page-mode messaging service, such as SMS, that reliesupon the underlying GSM mechanisms to resolve routing information inorder to locate destination mobile devices. A GSM network supporting SMStext messaging may further include the following SMS specificcomponents: a short message service center (SMSC) (140A or 140B) forstoring and forwarding messages to and from one mobile device to anotherand an SMS Gateway-MSC (SMS GMSC) for receiving the short message fromthe SMSC (140A or 140B) and interrogating the destination mobiledevice's HLR 130 for routing information to determine the currentlocation of the destination device to deliver the short message to theappropriate MSC (125A or 125B). The SMS GMSC is typically integratedwith the SMSC 140. In a typical transmission of an SMS text message froman originating mobile device 105 to a receiving mobile device 110, (i)the text message is transmitted from the mobile 105 to the MSC 125A,(ii) the MSC 125A interrogates its VLR 135A to verify that the messagetransfer does not violate any supplementary services or restrictions,(iii) the MSC 125A sends the text message to the SMSC 140A, (iv) theSMSC 140A, through the SMS GMSC, interrogates the receiving mobiledevice's HLR 130 (by accessing the SS7 network) to receive routinginformation for the receiving mobile device 110, (v) the SMSC sends thetext message to the MSC 125B servicing receiving mobile device 110, (vi)the MSC 125B retrieves subscriber information from the VLR 135B, and(vii) the MSC 125A transmits the text message to the receiving mobiledevice 110. Similar to other transactions on the GSM network, SMS textmessaging utilizes telephone numbers as identifying addresses for mobiledevices and as such, utilizes the SS7 network signaling system throughwhich cellular service providers share information from the HLR withother service providers. As depicted in FIG. 1, SS7 based signalingcommunication is represented by the broken lines. In contrast, the solidlines in FIG. 1 represent data or voice based communications.

In addition to a page-mode messaging service such as SMS, a GSM networkwithin which the present invention may be deployed would also support adata packet based communications service, such as the General PacketRadio Service (GPRS), that enables TCP/IP transmission protocol basedcommunications between mobile devices within the network. As depicted inFIG. 1, a core GPRS network exists in parallel to the existing GSM corenetwork. The BSC 120 may direct voice traffic through the MSC (125A or125B) to the GSM network and data traffic through the Serving GPRSSupport Note (SGSN) (145A or 145B) to the GPRS network. Suchcommunication between the BSC (125A or 125B) and the SGSN (145A or 145B)may be, for example, based upon the IP network protocol communication155. As such, GPRS signaling and data traffic do not flow through thecore GSM network. Instead, the core GSM network is used by GPRS only fortable look-up in the HLR 130 and VLR (135A or 135B) to obtain routing,location and other subscriber information in order to handle usermobility. The SGSN (145A or 145B) serves as a “packet-switched MSC,”delivering data packets to mobile devices in its service area. TheGateway GPRS Support Note (GGSN) (150A or 150B) communicates with theSGSN (145A or 145B) through an IP based GPRS backbone 160 and serves asan interface to other external IP networks 165 such as the Internet andother mobile service providers' GPRS services.

B. Server Based Architecture

Because mobile service providers do not typically allocate publiclyaccessible network addresses to each mobile device, the presentinvention requires the presence of a server with a publicly accessiblenetwork address (e.g., public Internet IP address) that enables theserver to be contacted across all private data packet based networks(e.g., IP networks). FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart setting forth oneembodiment of a server-based architecture in accordance with the presentinvention. As an initial set-up process, the server will need to haveopened and be listening on a well-known port (e.g., server socket) forrequests by mobile devices to initiate particular IM sessions 205 andthe client software residing on an initiating mobile device will need tobe pre-configured with the server's IP address and well-known port 210(it is not necessary that mobile devices other than the initiatingmobile device be pre-configured with the server's IP address andwell-known port). To initiate an IM session, the initiating mobiledevice transmits a request to establish a reliable session-basedconnection (e.g., TCP connection) with the server by contacting theserver at its network address and well-known port 215. The serverreceives the connection request from the initiating mobile device andestablishes a reliable connection (e.g., TCP connection) with theinitiating mobile device 220. Upon establishing the reliable connection225, the server allocates and opens a specific network port number(e.g., a server socket) for the IM session and transmits the port number(and, if needed, the server's IP address) to the initiating mobiledevice through the reliable connection 230. In this embodiment, thespecific network port number may be considered to be session identifyinginformation for the IM session being initiated by the initiating mobiledevice. Similar to the teachings in the P2P Patent Application, theinitiating mobile device receives the specific port number 235 and thenpropagates the server's network address and the specific network portnumber in invitation messages through a page-mode messaging service,such as SMS, to other mobile devices in order to participate in the IMsession 240. Such page-mode messages (e.g., SMS message) may be encodedin a manner such that the mobile devices can distinguish the messagefrom page-mode messages used for purposes other than the presentinvention, or the page mode-message may be sent to a specific page-modemessage port (e.g., SMS port) opened specifically for purposes of thispresent invention 245. The other mobile devices receive the invitationmessage 250 and if they desire to participate in the IM session, theytransmit requests to establish reliable connections (e.g., TCPconnections) 255 with the server by connecting with the server at thespecific network port number allocated to the initiating mobile device260. Once the reliable connections 266 with other participating mobiledevices are established, the server acts as a manager of the IM session,keeping track of all the established connections relating to thespecific port number and IM session and forwarding all messages (viareliable connections 225 and 266) exchanged among the mobile devicesthat are communicating within that particular IM session. The serverkeeps the specific network port for an IM session open so long as mobiledevices that have connected to each other through that network portremain engaged in a real-time IM session. Because all participatingmobile devices know the server's IP address and the specific allocatedport number associated with the IM session, any of such participatingmobile devices and invite other mobile devices to join by sending aninvitation message through the page-mode messaging service. Furthermore,those skilled in the art will recognize that security enhancements maybe added to the foregoing initiating process between the server and themobile devices. For example and without limitation, a nonce can beissued by the server to the initiating mobile device which is thenpropagated to other participating mobile devices. This nonce would beused to confirm that any mobile device attempting to join the IM sessionby connecting related established port was indeed invited toparticipate.

FIG. 3 depicts a flow chart setting forth an alternative embodiment of aserver-based architecture in accordance with the present invention. Uponestablishing the reliable connection in a manner similar to FIG. 2, theinitiating mobile device requests a session identification number(“Session ID”) from the server to initiate an IM session 310, and theserver generates such a Session ID and transmits the Session ID to theinitiating mobile device through the reliable connection 320. Whereasthe specific port opened by the server in the embodiment of FIG. 2 wasthe session identifying information, the session identifying informationin the embodiment of FIG. 3 is the Session ID. The initiating mobiledevice will then propagate the server's network address (possiblyincluding the well-known port) and the Session ID in invitation messagesthrough a page-mode messaging service, such as SMS, to other mobiledevices 330. The other mobile devices receive the invitation message 340and if they desire to participate in the IM session, they will extractthe network's address from the page-mode message and transmit a requestto establish a reliable connection (e.g., TCP connection) with theserver by contacting the server at the server's network address andwell-known port 350. Once a reliable connection 360 is established withthe server and a participating mobile device 370, the participatingmobile device and identifies its intent to join an initiated IM sessionby transmitting the Session ID 380 to the server through the connection360. The server acts as a manager of the IM session, keeping track ofall the connections relating to the Session ID and forwarding allmessages exchanged among the mobile devices that are communicatingwithin that particular IM session.

A server in accordance with the present invention, such as those in FIG.2 and FIG. 3 can be maintained by any entity, from a mobile deviceservice provider to any entity that desires to offer IM conferencingservices in accordance with the present invention. So long as the serverhas a publicly accessible network address (e.g., public Internet IPaddress), the server need not be part of any particular mobile device'sprivate network (e.g., service provider's mobile data network) and anymobile device associated with any service provider shall be able toconnect to the server through the data packet-based network (e.g., IPnetwork) and request the allocation of a specific port or Session ID toestablish an IM session. In another embodiment of the present invention,the maintainer of the server may also provide personal conferencingnumbers and PIN numbers to users to provide the capability to scheduleand set up “virtual IM conference rooms.” In such an embodiment, theserver also has associated with it at least one unique identificationnumber (e.g., telephone number) that may be used by mobile devices tocontact the server through the page-mode messaging service (e.g., SMS).For example, initially through an offline process (e.g., email, phonecall, letter, etc.), the maintainer of the server provides a mobiledevice user with a phone number associated with the server (e.g., atoll-free number), a personal conference number, and a PIN. Thoseskilled in the art in the teleconferencing area will recognize theexistence of alternative combinations of identification numbers forcreating a virtual conference room such as a personal phone number(rather than a common number used by all users) and a PIN, but nopersonal identification number. Such alternatives can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit of the present invention and are thereforeconsidered to be within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 4 provides a flow chart of a server-based architecture with virtualIM conference room capabilities in accordance with the presentinvention. Initially, through an offline or out-of-band process (e.g.,email, phone call, letter, etc.) a user of an initiating mobile device,having the role of the “moderator,” will schedule a proposed time forthe IM conference and distribute the server's phone number and theuser's personal identification number to all participants 405. At thetime of the scheduled conference, the initiating mobile device opens aTCP port (e.g., server socket) to listen for subsequent communicationsfrom the server 410. The server has similarly opened an SMS listeningport to receive SMS text messages requesting virtual IM conference roomsto be opened 415. The initiating mobile device then transmits its IPaddress, including its TCP port number, the user's personal conferencenumber and the user's PIN (to authenticate the user as the moderator) inan SMS text message to the telephone number of the server 420. In theembodiment described in FIG. 4, the user's personal conference numberand PIN may be considered session identifying information. The serverreceives the SMS text message containing the initiating mobile device'sIP address, personal conference number and PIN 425. The server extractsthe IP address, personal conference number and PIN from the SMS textmessage, confirms that the PIN is correct for the specific personalconference number and then transmits a request to establish a TCPconnection to the initiating mobile device's IP address (and specifiedTCP port number) 430. The initiating mobile device receives this requestand a TCP connection 435 is established between the initiating mobiledevice and the server and the virtual conference room associated withthe user's personal conference number is “opened” 440. Participants inthe scheduled IM conference other than the moderator “dial in” to the IMconference in a similar manner. At the time of the scheduled conference,a participant's mobile device opens a TCP port to listen for subsequentcommunications from the server 445. The participant's mobile device thentransmits its IP address, including its TCP port number and themoderator's personal conference number in an SMS text message to thephone number of the server 450. The server receives the SMS text messagecontaining the participant's mobile device's IP address and moderator'spersonal conference number 455. The server extracts the IP address andpersonal conference number from the SMS text message and then transmitsa request to establish a TCP connection to the participant's mobiledevice's IP address 460. If the moderator has “opened” the virtual IMconference room, then the server announces to all currently connectedparticipants that a new participant has joined the conference room andpropagates text messages to all participants through the various TCPconnections (465 and 435) established with the server 475. Those skilledin the art will recognize that the information that is embedded in theinitial SMS text message can vary and that other information can beexchanged once the TCP connection between the server and the mobiledevice is established. For example, only the IP address (and port) maybe transmitted to the server in the initial SMS text messages andthereafter, the user may be prompted by the server to manually enter theappropriate personal conference number or PIN number through the TCPconnection. Additionally, to the extent participating mobile devices arenot allocated publicly accessible IP addresses by service providers suchthat the server can establish a reliable connection (e.g., TCPconnection) with such devices, a different “intermediary” server with apublic network address (similar to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) may be used byeach participating mobile device to obtain a publicly accessible IPaddress (e.g., the intermediary server's IP address), transmit that IPaddress in its SMS message, and have all communication with theconferencing server routed to the mobile device through the intermediaryserver. Such alternatives can be made without departing from the spiritof the present invention and are therefore considered to be within thescope of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that such a conferencing serverin accordance with the present invention may be implemented in softwareand may reside on the same hardware platform as any firewall, NAT or anyother hardware router.

While the foregoing detailed description has described the presentinvention using SMS, GSM, GPRS and TCP/IP, other similar services andprotocols may be used in a variety of similar environments in which thepresent invention may be implemented. For example and withoutlimitation, rather than using SMS to transmit an IP address (and port)from the initiating mobile device to the listening mobile device throughthe devices' telephone numbers, an alternative embodiment of the presentinvention might use a PIN-to-PIN messaging technology (as, for example,offered in RIM's Blackberry handheld devices) to transmit the IP address(and port) through unique PIN numbers associated with the mobiledevices, or an alternative paging protocol using telephone numbers.Furthermore, the present invention contemplates that the actual protocolused during an established IM session may also vary depending upon thepreference of the implementation. For example and without limitation,Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) or any proprietary based protocolmay be used during the IM session that is established in accordance withthe present invention. Furthermore, those skilled in the art willrecognize that the server-based architecture presented herein can applyto other data exchange environments contexts (other than instantmessaging) where reliable connections between multiple mobile devicesare desirable (e.g., mobile multiplayer gaming). Additionally, thepresent server-based architecture may also be used with endpoints (e.g.,PCs, workstations, etc.) other than mobile devices, so long as suchendpoints have the requirements as described herein (e.g., phone numberassociated with such endpoint, SMS capabilities, TCP/IP connections,etc.). Thus, various modifications, additions and substitutions and thelike can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention andthese are therefore considered to be within the scope of the inventionas defined in the following claims.

1. A method of initiating a conferencing session among mobile devicesthat support a data packet-based communications service over a digitalmobile network system, the method comprising: transmitting a request toa server's network address and listening port to establish a reliablesession-based connection; establishing the reliable session-basedconnection with the server; receiving session identifying informationassociated with the conferencing session from the server; transmittingan invitation message containing the server's network address and thesession identifying information to a participating mobile device througha page-mode messaging service, wherein the participating mobile deviceis located by providing to the page-mode messaging service a uniqueidentification number that is used by the digital mobile network systemto locate the participating mobile device; and participating in theconference session through the reliable session-based connection withthe participating mobile device, which has established its own reliablesession-based connection with the server by transmitting its ownrequest, containing the session identifying information, to the server'snetwork address.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data packet-basedcommunications service is GPRS and the digital mobile network system isGSM.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the server's network address is anIP address and the listening port is a TCP port.
 4. The method of claim1 wherein the page-mode messaging service is SMS.
 5. The method of claim1 wherein the unique identification number is a telephone number.
 6. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the session identifying information includes asecond listening port number generated by and opened at the server. 7.The method of claim 1 wherein the session identifying information is asession identification number generated by the server.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the reliable session-based connection is a TCPconnection.
 9. A method of joining a conferencing session among mobiledevices that support a data packet-based communications service over adigital mobile network system, the method comprising: opening alistening port to receive invitation messages through a page-modemessaging service; receiving, at the listening port and through thepage-mode messaging service, an invitation message from an initiatingmobile device to participate in the conferencing session, wherein suchinvitation message contains a server's network address and sessionidentifying information; transmitting a request to the server's networkaddress to establish a reliable session-based connection; establishingthe reliable session-based connection with the server; and participatingin the conference session through the reliable session-based connectionwith the server with other mobile devices that have established theirown reliable session-based connections with the server by transmittingtheir own request to the server's network address to establish their ownreliable session-based connection.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein thedata packet-based communications service is GPRS and the digital mobilenetwork system is GSM.
 11. The method of claim 9 wherein the server'snetwork address is an IP address.
 12. The method of claim 9 wherein thepage-mode messaging service is SMS and the listening port is an SMSport.
 13. The method of claim 9 wherein the session identifyinginformation includes a second listening port number at the server andthe request to the server's network address to establish a reliablesession-based connection is transmitted to the second listening portnumber.
 14. The method of claim 9 wherein the session identifyinginformation is a session identification number generated by the serverand the session identification number is transmitted to the server uponestablishing the reliable session-based connection with the server. 15.The method of claim 9 wherein the reliable session-based connection is aTCP connection.
 16. A method of managing a conferencing session at aserver for mobile devices that support a data packet-basedcommunications service over a digital mobile network system, the methodcomprising: opening a listening port to receive invitation messagesthrough the data packet-based communications service; establishing afirst reliable session-based connection with an initiating mobiledevice; generating session identifying information associated with theconferencing session; transmitting the session identifying informationto the initiating mobile device through the reliable session basedconnection; receiving a request to establish a second reliablesession-based connection from a participating mobile device that hasobtained the server's network address and the session identifyinginformation from the initiating mobile device through a page-modemessaging service wherein the participating mobile device is located byproviding to the page-mode messaging service a unique identificationnumber that is used by the digital mobile network system to locate theparticipating mobile device. establishing a second reliablesession-based connection with the participating mobile device;associating the first reliable session-based connection with the secondreliable session-based connection through the session identifyinginformation; and establishing the conferencing session by forwardingmessages received from the initiating mobile device or the participatingmobile device to the participating mobile device or initiating mobiledevice, respectively, through the first reliable session-basedconnection and second reliable session-based connection respectively.17. The method of claim 16 wherein the data packet-based communicationsservice is GPRS and the digital mobile network system is GSM.
 18. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the server's network address is an IP addressand the listening port is a TCP port.
 19. The method of claim 16 whereinthe page-mode messaging service is SMS.
 20. The method of claim 16wherein the session identifying information includes a second listeningport number at the server and the method further comprises opening thesecond listening port at the server to receive requests fromparticipating mobile devices to establish reliable session-basedconnections.
 21. The method of claim 16 wherein the session identifyinginformation is a session identification number which is transmitted tothe server by the participating mobile device through the secondreliable session-based
 22. The method of claim 16 wherein the firstreliable session-based connection and the second reliable session-basedconnection are TCP connections.
 23. The method of claim 16 wherein theunique identification number is a telephone number.
 24. A method ofmanaging a conferencing session at a server for mobile devices thatsupport a data packet-based communications service over a digital mobilenetwork system, the method comprising: opening a listening port toreceive invitation messages through a page-mode messaging service;receiving, at the listening port and through the page-mode messagingservice, a first network address, a first port number and sessionidentifying information from an initiating mobile device; establishing afirst reliable virtual connection with the initiating mobile device byconnecting to the initiating mobile device through the first networkaddress and the first port number; receiving, at the listening port andthrough the page-mode messaging service, a second network address, asecond port number and the session identifying information from aparticipating mobile device; establishing a second reliable virtualconnection with the participating mobile device by connecting to theparticipating mobile device through the second network address and thesecond port number; associating the participating mobile device with theinitiating mobile device through the session identifying information;and establishing the conferencing session by forwarding messagesreceived from the initiating mobile device or the participating mobiledevice to the participating mobile device or initiating mobile device,respectively, through the first reliable virtual connection and secondreliable virtual connection respectively.
 25. The method of claim 24wherein the data packet-based communications service is GPRS and thedigital mobile network system is GSM.
 26. The method of claim 24 whereinthe page-mode messaging service is SMS and the listening port is an SMSport.
 27. The method of claim 24 wherein the unique identificationnumber is a telephone number.
 28. The method of claim 24 wherein thefirst network address and second network address are IP addresses andthe first port number and second port number are TCP port numbers. 29.The method of claim 24 wherein the session identifying informationincludes a personal conference number and a PIN number.
 30. The methodof claim 24 wherein the first reliable session-based connection and thesecond reliable session based connection are TCP connections.